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I have a kid in my class — let’s call him Kid — who is one of several children at his home. He’s got some issues. He also has had green goo coming out of his nose for months, his breath is stunningly bad, and his adenoids are swollen and slimy. If I were his mother, I’d have taken him to the doctor ages ago.

Miss Nelson has been concerned about him, I’ve been concerned about him, Miss Slinger has been concerned about him, the speech therapist has been concerned about him, and the nurse has been concerned about him. The speech therapist says he’s so congested he can’t form the sounds correctly, and his infection is probably in his ears, because it seems like he can’t hear her. The kids stay away from him because he smells so bad. He’s needy and he bursts into tears at the slightest provocation.

Miss Nelson and the nurse have been trying to reach mom for ages. Finally Kid’s social worker went to the house to meet with mom. Upshot is, she said she would take him to the doctor (she said she did, months ago, and the doctor said there was nothing wrong. I find that difficult to believe.).

Then Thursday morning the social worker emails us and says, do we have enough evidence to file a report of medical neglect? Miss Nelson promptly goes into a tizzy and we all try — and fail — to meet, so emails go bouncing around.

We decided to give mom one last chance. She said she would take him to the doctor on Friday (today) so we’ll see.

If within two weeks we see no evidence he is receiving medical care, we will file.

YUCK.

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5 thoughts on “Thursday: neglect?”

Parents at my school often bring notes FROM the doctor indicating when the child can return to work, or that they are under doctor care. Without something like that, why wait two weeks? Sound like this has been going on for awhile. Even without insurance there are options for parents.

AUGH! Kid’s mom called me yesterday to let me know that he wouldn’t be in school because he has strep. Our suspicions about the cause of his foul breath were correct.

But wait, there’s more. He also has a sinus infection. And an ear infection. AND he will have surgery to have his gigantic, slimy tonsils out.

She took him to the doctor on Friday, but didn’t get him started on antibiotics until Sunday. We’ll see if he shows up today….I really hope it doesn’t take her too long to get to the ENT (the doctor referred her) and get the surgery scheduled.

Poor Kid.

(Miss Slinger is out sick with a terrible cold and sore throat; she and I both really hope it’s not strep!)